Improved gold washer and amalgamator



UNITED STATES PATENT EricE.

ARNOLD BU'FFUM, OF NEYV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO JOHN D. LYNDE.

IMPROVED GOLD WASHER AND AMALGAMATOR.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 9.759, dated May Ill, 1853.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARNOLD BUFFUM, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mechanical Arrangement for Separating Gold from Pulverized Ore or from otherSubstances by the Amalgamating Process,which arrangement is called Buffums double acting gold separator, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification.

The mechanical arrangement consists of a llu me-say:four feet long, eighteen inches wide, and eighteeninches deepcloscd on the bottom, sides, and ends,exceptasmall aperture through which the sand and impurities are washed away. The flume is divided into, say, five compartmentsby crosswise perpendicular partitions having a connecting open passage-way between the lower end of the partitions and the bottom of the flume open perpendicularly one inch. Compartments l 2 3 4 are centrifugal amalgamating-compartments. 5 is a centripetally -discharging compartment. Centrifugal-acting agitators, each about eighteen inches long and six inches diameter, composed of central shafts surrounded with watermoving appendages, are suspended one in each centrifugal compartment crosswise of the flume at a clear elevation of two inches from the bottom, and are connected by pulleys and belts outside of the flume. The dischargingaperture is in the center of the bottom of the centripetal compartment, and issurrounded by a conical inclined plane five inches diameter at the base, two and a half inches open at he top, and one and a half inches high. A series of circular channels within one another surround the conical inclined plane. These channels are formed by true circular divisions rising from the bottom two inches, having connecting-openings of three inches each cut out from each division. In'nncdiatel y above these there is a water-moving and ore-guiding table suspended and revolving horizontally, which carries the water in this compartment in a regular whirlpool motion and confines the circulation of the ore to a close contact with the quicksilver. Thelower side of this watermoving and gold-guiding table may be a plane or of any other desired form or configuration; but I prefer constructing it with concentric flanges projecting down, so as to revolve in the channels of the bottom, and thereby aid in producing and continuing the current through these channels.

In practical operation the bottom of the flume is covered with a bed of quicksilver, the water and ere are poured in at the top of compartment No. 1, where the ore settles down to a contact with the first centrifugal agitator. The revolving of the agitators carries the water circularly around their centers and pro duces an agitation which'washes the ore and moves it through the connecting-openings directly upon the surface of the quicksilver. The rotation of the agitators being perpendicular produces a downward centrifugal action, throwing and pressing the goldnpon andinto the quicksilver, thereby sccu ring the most sure and perfect amalgamation and saving of the gold. The action of the whirlpool in the centripetal compartment carries the impurities circularly in the channels and centripctally through the openings to the central aperture, where they pass away, while the conical inclined plane prevents the escape of quicksilver.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a top view of the flume with its arrangements. 1 2 3 i are the centrifugal amalgamatingcompartments with the centrifugal-acting agitators. 5 is the centripetal discharging-compartment with the horizontally-revolving table. (3 represents a crank to give revolving motion to the table and the agitators. 7 represents theline of connecting-belts.

Fig. 2 is an inside view of the bottom of the centripetal compartment with the table removed. Letter A represents the circular channels; B, the openings in the rilividing-llanges; O, the base of the conical inclined plane; D, the central aperture through which the impurities pass away.

Fig. 3 represents a sectional elevation of the whole machine. 1 2 3 t are the centrifugal amalgamating'compartments. 5 is the centripetaldischargingcompartment. 6 7 S 9 are the centrifugal-acting agitators. 10 is the revolving table; 11, the conical inclined plane; 12, the discharging-apertnre; 13, the circular dividing-flanges. Y

The size and the proportions of the arrange ment admit of variations. The number of compartments may be increased or diminished. An additional centrifugal compartment, with 2. The arrangement of the circularguiding channels with connecting-openings s0 adj ustcd as to Secure an irregular spiral passage from the periphery to the aperture at the center.

3. The arrangements for gold-separators, whether the centrifugal and centripetal compartments he used in combination or either of them separately.

New York, April 1], 1853.

ARNOLD BUFFUM.

\Vitnesses:

R. H. RUSSELL, MILES B. ANDRUS. 

